Enrollments and Degrees Report. AIP Report.

In fall 1999, the 762 degree-granting physics departments in the United States were asked to provide information on their current enrollments and recent degrees, and data were received from 93% of the departments. The number of individuals receiving physics bachelor's degrees was at a 40-year low, with 3,646 degrees conferred in the class of 1999. The representation of women among degree recipients, however, reached a new high, with women earning 21% of the physics bachelor's degrees. Graduate student enrollments in physics increased in 1999 for the first time in almost a decade. The class of 1999, however, marked the fifth consecutive year that physics Ph.D. production fell. There were 1,262 degrees conferred, a decline of 5% from the previous year and a 15% decline since a recent high in 1994. An appendix contains tables describing recent trends in physics enrollments and degrees conferred. (SLD)